TURNING. 



pafles a little beyond it ; then by a quick tread he brings 

 the erank down again, putting the wheel in motion with a 

 velocity that will carry it feveral revolutions : he mufl ob- 

 ferve to begin his next tread juft when the crank pafTes the 

 higheft point, and then it will continue running the fame 

 way with a tolerable regular motion, if he is punftual in the 

 periods of his treads. The foot-wheel, by means of the 

 band, caufes the mandrel to revolve very rapidly, fo that it 

 will perform its work very quick, and the workman muft 

 acquire a habit of Handing ileady before his work, that he 

 may not give his whole body a motion when his foot rifcs 

 and falls with the treadle. 



The reft N of this lathe is fixed on the bed of the lathe 

 by ks foot, which is divided in the manner of a fork, to re- 

 ceive a fcrew-bolt ; this bolt pafles down througli the lathe- 

 bed, and faftens the reft at any place along the bed, by 

 a nut i beneath. The groove in the foot is for the 

 purpofe of allowing the reft to be moved to and from 

 the centre of the work, to adjuft it to the diameter of the 

 work which is turning. The height of the reft is a mat- 

 ter of fome importance in turning, and in fome work it 

 fhould be fixed higher than others ; therefore the piece upon 

 which the tool is laid, is made with a fhank of the form of 

 the letter T. This fhank is a round pin, and is received 

 into a focket in the foot of the reft, and can be held at any 

 height by a clamp-fcrew. As the focket and fhank are 

 cyhndrical, the edge of the T of the reft can be placed 

 inclined to the axis of the work when turning cones, or 

 other fimilar work, though the fame purpofe may be accom- 

 plifhed by the fcrew, which holds the foot of the reft down 

 to the bed of the lathe, admitting the fork to ftand in an 

 oblique direftion acrofs the bsd. 



The wood-turner employs gouges of all fizes, and chiffels 

 of different foi'ms : the gouges are ufed in the firft inftance 

 to rough out and form the wood, as tliey cut very rapidly, 

 becaufe they can take a very ftrong chip, and the angles will 

 not ftick in, as would be the c;ife with the chiffels. The 

 latter are ufed to fmooth the Vv'ork, and to reduce it exaftly 

 to fhape and fize. 



The blade of the turning-gouge is formed nearly half 

 round to an edge, and the two extreme ends of tliis edge 

 are a httl^ Hoped off, in the manner of an applc-fcoop, that 

 the middle part of the edge may cut away the prominences 

 of the work ; and it has no corners, which would catch and 

 get faft in the rough wood. The hollow part is whetted 

 upon a piece of Tuikey-ftone, made with a convex edge, 

 for the purpofe ; the outfide is whetted upon a common flat 

 Turkey-ftone, taking care to turn the gouge round, that all 

 parts of the convex edge may fucceflively be fharpened. In 

 turning, the blade of the gouge muft be held confiderably in- 

 clined, by deprefling the handle (fee^yff. 42.), fo that thebevil, 

 or outfide of the edge of the gouge, may come very nearly in 

 the tangent to the circumference of the work, and the cutting 

 edge be above the level of the centre. The turner holds the 

 tool down firmly upon the reft, keeping it fteady, by placing 

 the long handle under his arm. 



The turner's chiffels are moftly ground with a bevil 

 o)i both the flat fides, fo that either fide may be indif- 

 ferently applied to the work : they are ground up and 

 fharpened on th? oil-ftone to a keen edge. In fome chif- 

 fels, the line of the edge is inclined to the direftion of the 

 blade, inftcad of being perpendicularly acrofs it, as in the 

 chiffels ufed by carpenters ; in others, the edge is rounded 

 to a femicircle, inftead of being a ftraight line ; and others 

 .ire made with angular points, like fpears. It is diffi- 

 cult to defcribe the proper ufe of each particular tool, as 

 the turner muft employ one or other, according to the 

 10 



particular part of the work wliich is to be executed. In 

 ufing the chifTel, the reft is raifed confiderably above, th" 

 centre of the work, fo as to be nearly on a level with the tO]' 

 of it {iee^g. 41.), and the line of the cutting edge muft ftand 

 oblique to the axis of the cylinder, fo as to prevent either 

 angle of the chiflel from running into the work. It is 

 ncceffary to traverfe the chiffel gradually along the work, 

 but not too faft, otherwife it will leave a roughnefs on the 

 furface. 



The turning-tools fhould be fixed in long handles, and the 

 turner holds them firmly down upon the reit, fteadying them 

 by placing the end of the handle under his arm. 



The turner fhould be provided with a grindftone, and ar. 

 oil or Turkey-ftone to fhai-pen his tools ; and he muft have 

 callipers and gauges to, afcertain the dimenfions of his work. 

 In order to fix the work in the lathe, he muft have a great 

 affortment of chucks. The chucks for wood-turning are 

 blocks of wood, each having a fcrew, by which it can 

 be attached to the mandrel. The end of the chuck being 

 turned true, and the fhoulder of the fcrew upon the man- 

 drel being alfo turned true, the chuck fixes fo tight to the 

 fpindle, that it becomes as it were one piece with it. Moft of 

 the wood chucks are bored out like a box, and the work is 

 jambed into the cavity. There are other chucks, which are 

 only flat round boards, and the work is cemented or fcrewed 

 againft them ; but the generality of chucks are cylindrical 

 blocks, with a cylindrical or conical hole turned in the end, 

 like a box, into which the piece of wood to be turned is 

 driven faft, fo as to be turned round with the mandrel. The 

 chucks are generally hooped with iron, to prevent them from 

 fplitting. XVhen centre-work is to be turned in a mandrel 

 lathe, a chuck muft be fcrewed on the end of the mandrel, 

 which terminates in a fharp conical point. 



The lathe fhould be fixed in a place very well lighted ; 

 it fhould be immoveable, and neitlier too high nor too 

 low. 



The puppets fliould neither be fo low as to obUge the 

 workman to ftoop in order to fee his work properly, nor fo 

 high, that the httle chips, which he is continually cutting ofl", 

 fhould come into his eyes. 



The piece of wood to be turned fliould be rounded, before 

 it is put in the lathe, either with a fniall hatchet made for 

 the purpofe, or with a plane or rafp, fixing it in a vice, 

 and (having it down till it is every where almoft of an equal 

 thicknefs, leaving it a httle bigger th.m it is intend<-d to 

 be when finifhed off. Before putting it in the lathe, it is 

 alfo neccflary to find the true centres 01 its two end furfaccs, 

 fo that they fhall be exaftly oppofite to each other, in order 

 that, when the centre points of the puppets are applied to 

 them, and the piece is put in motion, no one fide may projeft 

 out more from the centre line than another. To find thefe 

 two centres, lay the piece of wood to be turned upon a 

 plank, open a pair of compaffes to almoft half the thicknefs 

 of the piece, lay one of the legs on the plank, and let the 

 point of the other mai-k on one of the ends of the piece 

 when laid flat on the plane with the plank, like a roller, from 

 which plank the point of the compaffes Hands up at a given 

 height above the plane on which the piece lies. Defcribe 

 four marks or arcs on that end at equal diftances from each 

 other round the circumference of the end, by laying the 

 piece fucceflively on four different fides, which arcs intcr- 

 fefting one another, the point witiiin the interfeftions will 

 be the centre of the end. In the fame manner, the centre of 

 the other end muft be found. 



After finding the two centres, make a fmall hole at each 

 of them, into which infert the centre points of the back 

 centre .and the mandrel, and fcrew up the back centre, to fix 



the 



i 



